Dec 31, 2012

I decided to pick the one book I am most excited about for each month of 2013. It was kind of hard to pick the books for the first few months, but when I reached October I couldn't find many books.

January

Be careful what you believe in.

Rudy’s life is flipped upside-down when his family moves to a remote island in a last attempt to save his sick younger brother. With nothing to do but worry, Rudy sinks deeper and deeper into loneliness and lies awake at night listening to the screams of the ocean beneath his family’s rickety house.

Then he meets Diana, who makes him wonder what he even knows about love, and Teeth, who makes him question what he knows about anything. Rudy can’t remember the last time he felt so connected to someone, but being friends with Teeth is more than a little bit complicated. He soon learns that Teeth has terrible secrets. Violent secrets. Secrets that will force Rudy to choose between his own happiness and his brother’s life.

February

It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to finishing school.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is the bane of her mother's existence. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper etiquette at tea--and god forbid anyone see her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. She enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But little do Sophronia or her mother know that this is a school where ingenious young girls learn to finish, all right--but it's a different kind of finishing. Mademoiselle Geraldine's certainly trains young ladies in the finer arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but also in the other kinds of finishing: the fine arts of death, diversion, deceit, espionage, and the modern weaponries. Sophronia and her friends are going to have a rousing first year at school.

First in a four book YA series set 25 years before the Parasol Protectorate but in the same universe.March

Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.

Literally.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy, is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder.

Then Eli's dream comes true.

Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target.

April

Cory Graff is not alone in her head. Bound to a deal of desperation made when she was a child, Cory’s mind houses the Furies—the hawk and the serpent—lingering always, waiting for her to satisfy their bloodlust. After escaping the asylum where she was trapped for years, Cory knows how to keep the Furies quiet. By day, she lives a normal life, but by night, she tracks down targets the Furies send her way. And she brings down Justice upon them.

Cory’s perfected her system of survival, but when she meets a mysterious boy named Niko at her new school, she can’t figure out how she feels about him. For the first time, the Furies are quiet in her head around a guy. But does this mean that Cory’s finally found someone who she can trust, or are there greater factors at work? As Cory’s mind becomes a battlefield, with the Furies fighting for control, Cory will have to put everything on the line to hold on to what she’s worked so hard to build.May

Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters. For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures. But when Izzy’s older sister vanishes without a trace while on a job, Izzy's mom decides they need to take a break.

Izzy and her mom move to a new town, but they soon discover it’s not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to prove her worth and investigate. But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. For a tough girl who's always been on her own, it’s strange to suddenly make friends and maybe even have a crush.

Can Izzy trust her new friends to help find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt?

Rachel Hawkins' delightful spin-off brings the same wit and charm as theNew York Times best-selling Hex Hall series. Get ready for more magic, mystery and romance!

June

So what’s the game now? This, or the life I used to know?

When Miki Jones is pulled from her life, pulled through time and space into some kind of game—her carefully controlled life spirals into chaos. In the game, she and a team of other teens are sent on missions to eliminate the Drau, terrifying and beautiful alien creatures. There are no practice runs, no training, and no way out. Miki has only the guidance of secretive but maddeningly attractive team leader Jackson Tate, who says the game isn’t really a game, that what Miki and her new teammates do now determines their survival, and the survival of every other person on this planet. She laughs. He doesn’t. And then the game takes a deadly and terrifying turn.

There is no cover or blurb out yet but I loved Seraphina and I know I am going to love this one too.

August

An ancient myth + a mean girl + a reluctant warrior = a lively take on good vs. evil

The Black Rose--a powerful ancient force--has been let loose and has taken up residence in Celeste Gibson, popular girl at Cassidy Carter-Lewis' high school. Thomas Delacroix is the spirit of a fourteenth-century knight who is devoted to protecting the Black Rose, but he needs a contemporary living being to take on the challenge. That's where Cassidy comes in. She's a quirky high school junior who just wants to dress in her vintage clothes, hang out with her best friend, and take care of her father, who is recovering from surgery. She's the last person who would ever volunteer for such a task, but no one actually asked her. Now, like it or not, she finds herself training before dawn and battling demons at parties, the mall, and even at school. But hey, no one ever said high school was going to be easy. . .

September

Old Gods never die…

Or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health.

Desperately seeking the cause of their slow, miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra—an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god.

These days, Cassandra doesn’t involve herself in the business of gods—in fact, she doesn’t even know they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning.

Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned herself with other of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these anti-gods have become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caricatures of their former glory. Athena will need every advantage she can get, because immortals don’t just flicker out.

Every one of them dies in their own way. Some choke on feathers. Others become monsters. All of them rage against their last breath.

The Goddess War is about to begin.

October

A week ago, Dinah’s cousin Claire cut her wrists.

Five days ago, Dinah found Claire’s diary and discovered why.

Three days ago, Dinah stopped crying and came up with a plan.

Two days ago, she ditched her piercings and bleached the black dye from her hair.

Yesterday, knee socks and uniform plaid became a predator’s camouflage.

Today, she’ll find the boy who broke Claire.

By tomorrow, he’ll wish he were dead.November

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December

Mystique by Shari Arnold(There is no cover yet)
Only Bauer Grant can pull off gorgeous while dead. But staying dead is another thing entirely. When he wakes up at his own funeral, the town of Mystique calls it a miracle,until it happens again. Something is bringing the residents of Mystique back to life, but what? Presley Caine finds herself caught up in the mystery when Bauer asks her to visit him. Presley can’t figure out why the most popular guy in school is so drawn to her. And when Bauer is kidnapped soon after, she looks to Bauer’s brooding best friend Sam, whose dad works for the powerful Mystique military base, for answers. In her quest to discover the truth, Presley’s relationship with Sam deepens, her feelings for Bauer are tested, and it becomes clear that her own mysterious past is somehow connected to these strange events. But is she strong enough to handle the truth when it is finally revealed?

Dec 24, 2012

The Christmas Bake-Off is a short and totally sweet story about a small town and their annual baking competition. It is about the contestants of the competition and their way into baking what they hope would be a winning recipe.

I loved how cute, even though short, this story was. It gives us a good idea about Clements writing style and now I am dying to get my hands on Meet Me Under the Mistletoe.

Perfect to get you into the Christmas mood. And also it's FREE on Amazon.

Dec 23, 2012

Unpack This is a meme I started instead of my usual IMM. It was inspired by my love to open boxes, yes I love doing that.

As promised this week I didn't skip on my new haul meme. I haven't done one last week cause I simply didn't have time to blog about anything, or even read. So these are two weeks worth of books.

Physical Books:

I received Carnival of Souls, Possess and Miss Pergrine's Home for Peculiar Children as a gift for my graduation (I got my Bachelor and now I am moving on to my Master's degree.) I also found Speak No Evil, Changeling, The Mall and White Cat on a great deal (they are all used) and couldn't help but get them. And finally, as a Christmas surprise from Santa, I got Nemesis, The Angel of Darkness and Fatherland. What I mean when I say a surprise from Santa? I was working on a project with a friend of mine at a basement lab at the Uni and we found thesew three books lying around in an old bookcase.They are really old, like from 97 or 98 and they were abandoned there so, like the good samaritan I am (and hoarder of books) I picked them up and got them home with me.

Dec 19, 2012

Hey guys! I know I've been MIA for a while now, I didn't even post my new book haul (which I do every week, no matter what). Anyways, there was a very good reason why.

A stray dog that we used to feed, gave birth at our basement almost a month ago to 10 puppies (only 5 remain). Since last week the dog stopped feeding her puppies and I had to start taking care of them. I should point out that I never had a dog, so I learned quite a bit the last month about new borns and their moms. Sad part is I am leaving for X-Mas in 5 days and don't know if the puppies are still going to be there by then. I was even thinking of keeping on of them. But even if I don't I hope they will find a home through some animal organizations here. They are adorable.

Anyways, now for some more bookish news.

I am reading (although haven't read anything for a few days now) Significance, which is getting really great. I am not a big fan of the destiny theme in books, I am more of a 'TeamFreeWill' kind of person, but I have to say so far I am loving this book.

I got quite a few books last week which I am going to include in this week's Unpack This post.

I am also planning on a Most Anticipated Books of 2013 post and then there is the Best of 2012 giveaway hop, both at the end of this month.

In February Fire & Ice will begin. If you don't know what that is you should read this post. And if you want to participate drop an email to a host.

And finally, I try to keep up on editing my book, which is terribly boring. Hopefully it's going to be ready to go early this Spring. If you want more info about it read this post.

So, that's pretty much it. I promise I'll try to post as much as possible, but, well, it's my last week before I go back to my hometown for the holidays.

Dec 9, 2012

Unpack This is a meme I started instead of my usual IMM. It was inspired by my love to open boxes, yes I love doing that.

I am trying not to order any books lately cause I will leave for Xmas and don't want my books to wait for me in my doorstep during the holidays, so I guess at some point I might not even receive books for a whole week. Anyways, this week I did get some pretty exciting books.

Physical Books:

Dark Kiss: I was looking for some other books by Michelle Rowen on awesomebooks.com when I found this one and simply could not help myself from getting it.Rot and Ruin: Oh, how I wanted this book for ages and, yay, I finally got it. I love zombies so much.

Dec 6, 2012

Now I know why everyone goes crazy about this series. Yeap, this book was amazing. I loved it. As of now I am a VA fan. And since almost everyone has read this book I am going to keep my review short.

What I liked:
The characters, the setting, the Vampire history, the whole world was brought to life by the amazing writing of Richelle Mead. After a few pages I wanted to be a student in the Academy. I also loved who the plot made sense. Every thing fall into place by the end. And if you tried hard enough you could figure it all out on your own. Of course there were a few surprises at the end.

What I didn't like:
Well, basically nothing. But the one thing that kept bugging me till the end, was Rose's constant flirting with everyone. It makes her look weak and insecure, that she would need guys approval to feel good. I honestly hope it stops. Otherwise I loved her to pieces.

So, I can't wait to read the next book, which I luckily own, and finally meet Andrian. I was a bit dissapointed to find out he wasn't in this book.

Dec 2, 2012

Unpack This is a meme I started instead of my usual IMM. It was inspired by my love to open boxes, yes I love doing that.

There are no photos this week, basically because I am bored but all the following books are in paperback format.

Books

Flawless and Perfect: Books 2 and 3 in the Pretty Little Liars series. I am a huge fan of the tv show and I really enjoyed the first book. I know that the books are kind of different from the series so I can't wait to see in what ways.

Geist: I had this on my TBR list for the longest time. I can't believe I finally bought it. It seems like a very unique fantasy book.

The Dead-Tosse Waves: This is the second book in the Forest of Hands and Teeth series, which hopefully I will be starting soon.

Dec 1, 2012

It's time for my Winter Reading List. I can't believe that it has been three months since I made my Autumn Reading List, from which, by the way, I managed to read half of the books. So this time I will try to list fewer books and maybe for once I will read them all.

With A Feast for Crows, Martin delivers the long-awaited fourth volume of the landmark series that has redefined imaginative fiction and stands as a modern masterpiece in the making.

After centuries of bitter strife, the seven powers dividing the land have beaten one another into an uneasy truce. But it's not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters of the Seven Kingdoms gather. Now, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed while surprising faces—some familiar, others only just appearing—emerge from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges of the terrible times ahead. Nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages, are coming together to stake their fortunes...and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors.

Burning Sky (Sora Gate, #1)
Now available on Wattpad
New chapters added every Tuesday.